Alopecia Mucinosa
Alopecia Mucinosa is a very rare condition and it is very hard to find any decent information on the condition let alone any documents that don’t require a degree in medicine to decipher. This article has been produced to provide you with a good understanding of what Alopecia Mucinosa is and how to treat it.
Alopecia Mucinosa is often referred to as follicular mucinosis and was discovered by Doctor Hermann Pinkus back in 1957. Alopecia Mucinosa usually presents as slightly scaly bald patches in which the hair follicles are more prominent than usual. The most common sites affected by the condition are the face, neck and scalp, but any part of the body may be affected. Sadly statistics on the condition are hide to find.
In the US : Alopecia Mucinosa is a rare condition. The precise data on its frequency are not available.
Source: eMedicine
Alopecia Mucinosa is also known as follicular mucinosis, a term also used to describe the appearance of mucin around hair follicles as seen under the microscope. Mucins have the appearance of stringy clear or whitish substance. They are mainly made up of hyaluronic acid in the skin (a normal component of the ground substance surrounding collagen in the dermis).
What are Mucinoses?
Mucinoses are a diverse group of uncommon skin disorders. All involve accumulation in the skin of abnormal amounts of mucin. This is a jelly-like complex carbohydrate substance, called hyaluronic acid, that occurs normally as part of the connective tissue in the dermis or mid-layer of the skin. The abnormal deposits that occur in mucinoses can be localised or widespread. They vary from minor cosmetic nuisances to potentially severe conditions involving internal organs. The underlying cause of this group of disorders is not well understood.
Source: Dr Julie Smith http://dermnetnz.org
There are basically three types of alopecia mucinosa; a primary and acute disorder occurring in children and adolescents (Pinkus type), a primary and chronic disorder occurring in people older than 40 years and a secondary disorder associated with benign or malignant skin disease (skin cancer).
What causes Alopecia Mucinosa?
Why Alopecia Mucinosa occurs is unknown, but it may have something to do with circulating immune complexes and cell-mediated immunity. We do know that mucinous material deposits itself and gathers in hair follicles and sebaceous glands ( Glands in the skin that produce an oily substance called sebum, which keeps the skin supple.) to create an inflammatory condition that subsequently breaks down the ability of the affected follicles to produce hair.
What are the clinical features?
Early signs of the disease are the presence of grouped follicular papules similar to raised spots that appear in reddened patches. They typically end up being 2-5 cm in diameter but can be larger. One or more lesions may be present from the start of the condition or a single lesion may develop into multiple lesions over a few weeks or months.
Hair loss is common from the affected follicles. There is good news on this front as it can be completely reversible in the early stages as the hair will grow back if the condition clears up. However in more severe disease cases complete follicular destruction prevents normal hair growth even if the inflammatory skin disease is controlled.
What treatment is available?
Like other forms of alopecia there are no 100% effective treatments available for Alopecia Mucinosa. Quite often primary and acute Alopecia Mucinosa which occurs in children will clear itself spontaneously.
Its because of this small chance of spontaneous resolution for other forms of alopecia that treatment can be difficult to assess. The following treatments that have been tried with limited success and include:
- Topical, intralesional and systemic corticosteroids
- Oral antibiotics such as minocycline
- Topical and systemic photochemotherapy (PUVA)
- UVA1 phototherapy
Secondary Alopecia Mucinosa should be treated appropriately for the underlying skin disease, particularly if this is cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.
Source: dermnetnz.org
